Khing Hnin Wai has made a habit of taking videos of how she does aerobics in the capital of Myanmar, and it’s bouncy castle techno music that would not sound apart in a cheerleading competition.
In the handful of videos she posted on her Facebook page, she never captured anything notable behind her in Naypyidaw, apart from the absurd emptiness of the 20-lane Yaza Htarni Road leading to the country’s parliament building. That was until Monday.
In a post that has since gone viral, Khing Hnin Wai is seen as diving into one of her training routines while a convoy of black military vehicles drives past her to the seat of the country also known as Burma. The teacher does not seem to notice the riot, and it is unclear whether the sirens heard belong to her dance music or the convoy.
It seems that Khing Hnin Wai was working at the moment when Myanmar’s army took over in a coup. The swift and bloodless takeover, ending a decade of fragile democratic reform, was launched early in the morning and led to the detention of elected civic leaders, including the head of the ruling National Alliance for Democracy Party, Aung San Suu Kyi.
On Facebook on Tuesday, Khing Hnin Wai posted older clips of her routines from the same place, showing that it was no coincidence that she practiced there.
“It’s normal when I wake up in the morning,” she wrote.